Content warning: the following article discusses sexual violence.
A petition has been circulated this evening, the 6th of April, calling for an extraordinary meeting of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Council.
Should the petition succeed, motions included in the agenda will be censures of TCDSU President Jenny Maguire and Welfare and Equality Officer Hamza Bana for their part in a controversial sexual assault awareness action.
The anticipated Council meeting also seeks to launch a “proposal for a working group on preventing sexual violence that will ensure that our Union tackles this problem in a comprehensive, sensitive, and effective manner moving forward”.
Earlier this week, Bana, Maguire and a small number of union members beat effigies on campus that acted as stand-ins for rapists. On Friday, the group took anonymous confessions taken from survivors of sexual violence and posted them on the Junior Dean’s door – without the express permission of those who made the confessions.
The petition is supported by TCDSU President-elect Seán Thim O’Leary, Commuter Officer Pól Ó hÍomhair, and Class Representative Imogen Forrest. In a statement to The University Times, Thim O’Leary said they expressed concerns “three times” to Sabbatical Officers and was told that the protest actions which occurred this week would not take place.
The petition needs 50 signatures from Council members to trigger an extraordinary meeting of Council – and is at 23 signatures at the time of writing.
Forrest wrote to The University Times: “The aim of this meeting is to address the serious backlash that the Union has experienced in the wake of the direct action of the past week, to hold the responsible officers accountable for that action and for their subversion of Union processes, and to provide a constructive way to address the critical issue of sexual violence in our College going forward.”
The statement goes on to read: “this is the only way to restore trust in our Union in this moment, after the severe damage to our credibility caused by this direct action taken in our name. We should be leading the way on tackling sexual violence, not engaging in performative action for the sake of it – and I strongly believe that this is the way forward.”
The Electoral Commission and Oversight Commission have been made aware of the petition.
Jenny Maguire and Hamza Bana have been contacted for comment.
